Are you looking for the perfect flowering vines to add beauty and style to your Pacific Northwest garden? With so many options, it can take time to choose the right ones. Fortunately, there are some amazing flowering vines that are perfectly suited to the Pacific Northwest climate and will thrive in your garden.
Clematis
One of the most popular flowering vines for your Pacific Northwest garden is clematis. These long-lasting and easy-to-care-for plants are a favorite among gardeners. Clematis come in a variety of colors and sizes so that you can find the perfect plant for your landscape. Their delicate petals look stunning in the spring and summer months, and they can provide your garden with a beautiful climbing accent. Clematis are well-suited for nearly any type of soil, so they’re also easy to maintain. Consider adding this flowering vine to your garden to bring beauty and charm to your landscape.
Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle is one of the most popular flowering vines for your landscape in the Pacific Northwest. With proper care, this flowering vine will give your garden a long-lasting display of colorful blooms and fragrance throughout the growing season. Beautiful, fragrant flowers attract pollinators such as butterflies and hummingbirds. Honeysuckle can be trained to climb up walls, trellises, or other structures, providing a burst of color and scent to any outdoor area. When planting honeysuckle, make sure you choose a spot that gets plenty of sunlight and has well-draining soil. You can also trim and prune this vine to control its growth and maintain a neat shape.
Black Eyed Susan Vine
For a unique flowering vine to incorporate into your landscape, Black Eyed Susan Vine is a perfect choice. This species of Thunbergia is an excellent addition to the Pacific Northwest garden. It thrives in warm summer temperatures and is known for its lush green foliage and bright yellow, daisy-like flowers. It is an annual vine, growing up to 20 feet long, and provides an impressive covering on any trellis or fence. Its long, sprawling vines are full of fragrant blooms, attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators. The Black Eyed Susan Vine is also drought-tolerant, making it a low-maintenance option for gardeners looking for easy-care flowering vines for their landscape.
Jasmine
Jasmine is a beautiful and fragrant flowering vine for your landscape. It has a delicate, star-shaped flower with a heavenly scent. In the Pacific Northwest, several varieties of jasmine grow well in our area.
A beautiful addition to your landscape, jasmine is an excellent choice for a hardy and fragrant flowering vine. Jasmine vines need full sunlight and well-draining soil to thrive. Regular pruning is necessary to keep your vine blooming during the warmer months. Jasmine attracts hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden.
Passionflower Vine
One of the best flowering vines for your landscape in the Pacific Northwest is the Passionflower Vine. This easy-to-care-for and fast-growing vine boasts unique other-worldly, star-shaped flowers ranging from purple and blue to white and yellow. The Passionflower Vine is a very hardy vine, able to withstand extreme temperatures and difficult growing conditions. It is an excellent choice for those looking to add color and texture to their garden and offer a privacy screen.
Climbing Roses
Climbing roses can bring your Pacific Northwest garden to life. You can have beautiful blossoms and fragrances while also attracting pollinators. Climbing roses can be planted next to a patio and grow over an arbor, trellis, and other supports.
Some varieties of climbing roses to consider include:
Arborose Quicksilver – has lavender blooms and a sweet fragrance. A wonderful climbing rose, it also has disease-resistant foliage.
Don Juan -This red rose produces blooms up to 4 inches and is fragrant. Don Juan is one of the better climbing roses.
Lady Banks – is a popular yellow rose that can grow up to 20’ feet tall. This climber prefers well-drained soil and needs sturdy support. A thornless variety, Lady Banks received an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.
How to Use Flowering Vines in Garden Design
Flowering vines are a great addition to gardens in the Pacific Northwest, adding a pop of color and texture to your landscape. Vines can climb walls and fences, twine around trellises, or trail along the ground, creating an interesting and eye-catching visual.
Using flowering vines in your garden design is an excellent way to add color, texture, and scent to your landscape. Frontier Landscaping provides quality landscape installation and landscape maintenance services to keep your yard looking beautiful year-round. Give us a call today at (360) 574-8979.
Composting in your yard is a great way to reduce waste, add valuable nutrients to your garden, and help the environment. Whether you’re an avid gardener or just looking to help the planet, composting is a great place to start.
How composting works
Composting is a simple yet effective way to reduce waste while helping your garden thrive. Composting works by collecting organic materials, such as food scraps, leaves, and grass clippings, and allowing them to decompose into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. The composting process involves microorganisms breaking down the organic matter and releasing nutrients into the soil, which plants can use for growth.
To start composting in your yard, you’ll need a container or bin to store the compostable material, such as a metal trash can with holes punched in it or a ready-made compost bin. You’ll also need to layer different compostable materials, such as green (nitrogen-rich) materials like grass clippings and fruit/vegetable scraps, and brown (carbon-rich) materials like straw, dead leaves, and wood chips.
What to put in your compost
Composting is a great way to turn food and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost to use in your garden. Composting is a natural process that breaks down organic material over time and helps create healthy soil for your plants. However, knowing what items you can and can’t add to your compost pile is important.
When deciding what to put in your compost, the main rule is to avoid adding anything toxic or harmful to your garden. This includes plastic, metals, pet droppings, and chemically treated materials. The best items to include in your compost are organic materials like vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, paper products (shredded or cut into small pieces), grass clippings, leaves, wood chips even tea bags.
It’s also important to remember to mix up the types of materials that you add to your compost pile. You want to balance green materials (like grass clippings and kitchen scraps) and brown materials (like leaves and wood chips). You should also only add a little of one item at a time, as this can create an imbalance of nutrients in your compost pile.
If you want to speed up the process of breaking down materials in your compost pile, you can add a few handfuls of soil or manure. This will give bacteria and other organisms the essential nutrients they need to break down organic matter quickly.
Attractive ways to compost in your yard
Composting is a great way to recycle organic materials and turn them into nutrient-rich soil for your garden.
Making composting attractive is possible! You can hide your compost bin behind a fence or wall or place it in the corner of your garden. There are many stylish bins available. However, you choose to compost, making your bin well-ventilated will help speed up decomposition.
Here are some ideas for how to compost in an attractive way:
- Build or buy a compost bin. Using a compost bin is one of the best ways to keep your compost contained and tidy. Many compost bins are available, from wooden bins to steel tumblers. Find one that suits your needs, and add it to your outdoor space.
- Use a planter. If you don’t have room for a compost bin, you can use a planter to house your compost. Plant herbs, flowers, or vegetables near the planter and let the compost enrich the soil as it decomposes.
- Create a compost pile. If you don’t want to invest in a bin or planter, create a simple compost pile in an out-of-the-way corner of your yard. As long as you’re diligent about turning the pile every few weeks, you’ll have fresh compost in no time.
- Use it! Compost can add nutrients to existing flower beds or vegetable gardens. Incorporate it into the landscape as soon as it’s ready. Sprinkle compost around the plants or incorporate it into the soil before planting. You can also seasonally compost in the warmer months and take the winter off. This way, you don’t have a pile sitting anywhere.
Frontier Landscaping provides full-service landscaping for Clark County, WA, to keep your plants healthy and your landscape looking its best. Get a Quote Today!
Adding texture to your garden is a great way to make it stand out and look unique. By incorporating plants with various textures, you can create an eye-catching display.
From grasses to shrubs and succulents, many plants are spiny, peeling, or feathered in texture that can be added to your landscape.
Perennials for Texture
Perennials are a great way to add texture to your landscape. They come back year after year and can give your garden a unique and beautiful look. Perennials come in all shapes, sizes, and colors and can be used to create any garden design.
Consider plants such as:
- Sedum
- Elephant Ears (Bergenia)
- Sword Fern
- Wild Ginger
- Allium
- Astilbe
- Santolina Chamaecyparissus
- Lamb’s Ear
- Yucca
- Sea Holly
Ornamental Grasses for Texture
Adding ornamental grasses to your landscape is an easy way to add both texture and movement to your yard.
For those looking for year-round interest, ornamental grasses offer great value as many varieties can remain standing throughout the winter months. Their airy habit can soften a landscape and act as a backdrop for other plants in the garden.
When selecting ornamental grasses, consider the size of the mature plants and the amount of sunlight they will receive. Some varieties can reach heights of 4-6 feet and require full sun, while others stay relatively low in height and prefer partial shade.
- Deschampsia
- Carex
- Orange Sedge
- Northern Sea Oats
- Black mondo grass
No matter which type of ornamental grass you choose, cutting back the foliage at least once a year is important to keep the grass healthy and encourage new growth. This task is best done in late winter or early spring before new growth begins.
Shrubs for texture
Shrubs are a great way to add texture and depth to your landscape. Whether you’re looking for evergreen shrubs, flowering shrubs, or low-maintenance varieties, many options give your garden year-round texture and interest.
Popular shrubs to include:
- Red twig dogwoods
- Japanese holly
- Evergreen huckleberry
- Oakleaf hydrangea
- Smokebush
No matter what type of shrub you choose, be sure to research it thoroughly before planting. Each type of shrub has different requirements for light, water, and soil, so you want to make sure you pick one that will thrive in your garden.
Textural Trees
Trees are a great way to add texture to your landscape. They can provide privacy and protection from harsh winds and intense sunlight.
Try the following trees:
- Raywood’s Weeping Arizona cypress
- Pacific Madrone
- River Birch
- Hinoki false cypresses
- Thunderhead Japanese Black Pine
When selecting trees for your landscape, consider the mature size of the tree, as well as its growth rate. Think about where you plan to plant the tree, such as an area with direct sunlight or a more sheltered location with dappled light.
Need help with your landscape design or pairing plants with your hardscapes? Call us for a free consultation at (360) 574-8979.
Raised beds have become increasingly popular among gardeners and for a good reason. They are an attractive addition to any outdoor space and provide numerous practical benefits that make gardening more accessible and rewarding. Raised bed gardening may be the perfect solution to elevate your gardening game.
Easy to Maintain
Raised beds are ideal for anyone looking for a low-maintenance garden setup. The soil level allows you to work on your plants without bending down or kneeling on the ground. This makes it easier to pull weeds, add compost, and water your plants. The improved drainage means they don’t need as much attention when watering as ground-level soil. You can also control the soil mix in a raised bed, which makes it easier to maintain your plants’ nutrient needs.
Increase Drainage
The higher elevation of the soil helps water flow away from the plant roots, reducing the risk of fungal diseases and root rot that can occur with overly wet soil. This can be especially helpful in landscape areas where water drains slowly or is prone to pooling. Adding gravel or a layer of plastic beneath the soil also helps further improve drainage.
Control Your Soil
Raised beds allow you to control the soil you use for your garden. By building up the sides of the bed, you can fill it with soil from a local garden center or make your own blend. This allows you to tailor the soil to your specific needs and the plants that will be planted in the bed.
A good soil mix is essential for healthy plants and a bountiful harvest. A good soil mix will contain both organic material and inorganic materials to provide necessary nutrients, retain moisture, and aerate the soil. Composted manure, peat moss, or coco coir can be used in raised beds mixed with sand, vermiculite, and perlite. You can create your own custom blend to make a soil blend for your plants.
You Can Plant Earlier
Raised beds are typically warmer than traditional gardens because they are off the ground. Extra height and insulation of the soil increase the temperature. This can be beneficial in early spring when the ground can remain cold. With a raised bed, you can start planting earlier in the season.
Make harvesting easier
Raised beds can make harvesting easier because the vegetables are up off the ground and in easy-to-reach locations. It can also eliminate bending over and ensures you’re not pulling up weeds or disturbing the soil. This can save time and energy and help your harvest last longer. Raised beds also provide a convenient platform for trellising, so your vegetables can grow vertically and can be easily harvested.
Frontier Landscaping builds raised beds using a variety of materials. We can also add drip irrigation in the beds and outdoor lighting. Give us a call today for a free estimate at (360) 574-8979.
When it’s summer in the Pacific Northwest we want to enjoy the beautiful weather in an outdoor living space. Although outdoor spaces used to just be for patio furniture and a grill they can now include TVs, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, lighting, and more.
Creating an outdoor living space can be a great way to add value to your home and create an area to relax and entertain. Whether you’re starting from scratch or making changes to an existing outdoor area, the time is now to get started on your new landscape.
Suited to your own aesthetic tastes, we can create living outdoor living spaces that extend the hospitality of your home, extend and open up an area for entertaining or create a quiet retreat.
Planning Your Outdoor Living Space
By planning your new landscape project now we are also able to see how your landscape handles drainage issues so we can see if this needs to be incorporated into your landscape project.
Before you start shopping for furniture and think about hardscapes, take some time to think about how you want to use your outdoor living area. Do you want a place to cook and entertain? A spot to relax with a good book or some music? A place for your kids to play? Consider your needs and lifestyle when deciding how to design your space. With these ideas in mind, you can begin to create a design plan that works best for you and your family.
There are endless design options you can create by choosing natural stone, pavers, bricks, river rocks, and more. Our Professionals at Frontier Landscape can help you design outdoor living spaces that are truly your own.
Outdoor Furniture and Accessories
When you’re planning your outdoor living area, it’s important to choose furniture and accessories that match your style. Think about what kind of atmosphere you want to create with your space. If you’re looking for a cozy and intimate vibe, opt for comfortable seating and inviting fabrics. If you want something more modern and sleek, go for metal furniture and low-maintenance materials.
Adding Hardscaping
When deciding what kind of hardscaping to add, consider the size and shape of your outdoor living area. If you have a small area, then you may want to focus on creating walkways and adding a few steps. If you have a larger area, then you could add a patio or an outdoor kitchen. No matter what type of hardscaping you choose, make sure it fits the overall style of your outdoor living area.
Retaining Walls
If you have a smaller area next to a slope consider installing a retaining wall. Retaining Walls can. They can incorporate straight or curved lines, steps, and corners and serve as added seating. Retaining walls are often used for grade changes, and for other functional reasons such as widening driveways, and walkways, or creating more space in a patio outdoor area. More usable area for your Landscapes and Outdoor Spaces.
Paths and Patios
Paths and Patios can be created using slate, brick, concrete, rough stone, gravel, crushed granite, pavers of all shapes and colors, or a mix therein. We can add a path leading through your property to the patio or any route in between.
Should your outdoor living space need any permits we can get those started for you sooner rather than later. In order to have your outdoor living space ready for summer you need to think now and schedule a free consultation!
When the cold winter months arrive, your garden doesn’t have to become a dull, lifeless space. With a few simple additions, you can transform it into a winter wonderland and enjoy the outdoors even during the colder months. Here are some tips on adding winter interest to your garden and keeping your space looking beautiful all year round.
Plant evergreens
One of the easiest and most effective ways to add winter garden interest is planting evergreen shrubs. Evergreens are versatile and can be used to create privacy or as an anchor for flower beds and other garden areas. Evergreens come in various shapes, sizes, and colors, making them perfect for adding texture and color to your garden, even in the coldest months of the year. Planting evergreens also provide shelter and food for wildlife in the winter. Species that can provide year-round interest include boxwood, holly, juniper, pine, and spruce.
Incorporate different textures
Texture is an important element to consider when creating a winter garden. Adding various textures can help to create interest and dimension in the garden, even during the coldest months of the year. Start by planting a few evergreens. Pine, fir, juniper, and holly are nice options. They will add structure and texture to your garden. Grasses and ornamental grasses are also great for adding texture, especially when covered in a layer of frost or snow. When choosing plants, select those with interesting foliage or textured bark.
Use winter-blooming flowers
Bring life to your garden with winter-blooming flowers! While many plants go dormant during the colder months, some will bring color to your garden. Consider planting pansies, violas, and primroses for a burst of vibrant color. Or opt for hellebores or winter daphne for more subtle blooms.
Winter Container Gardening
Cheerful winter pots outdoors can help brighten up and decorate your yard. Make sure your vessels can survive fluctuating temperatures. Porous materials like ceramic and terracotta are subject to flaking and can crack in freezing temperatures.
Best Types of Planters
Planters made of metal, fiberglass, heavy-duty plastic, or wood are the least likely to crack during freezing temperatures. If you have stone, cement, or concrete planters outside, make sure they have drainage holes so water doesn’t get trapped to freeze and thaw, causing damage to them.
Ideas for Winter Containers Include:
- Juniper
- Rosemary
- Grasses
- Boxwood
- Sedum
- Coral Bells
- Ornamental Cabbage
Plant Berries
Berries are a great way to add winter interest to your garden! Not only do they provide a vibrant burst of color, but they also attract wildlife, such as birds.
- Winterberry has beautiful red berries that can stay on the plant throughout the season, providing beautiful contrast against the snow.
- Beautyberry produces clusters of purple berries that can provide a dramatic display in winter.
- Pyracantha is another great option, as it bears clusters of bright yellow or orange berries throughout the winter
- Japanese Skimmia is an evergreen shrub that has red berries that remain in winter and white flowers in late spring.
Add Lighting
Lighting can be used to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere in your garden during the winter months. Solar-powered garden lights are a great option for those who want to conserve energy, and LED lights are very energy-efficient and long-lasting. No matter what type of lighting you choose, it will add a unique touch to your garden and make it look even more beautiful during winter.
Let us know how we can help with winter gardening for your landscape, give us a call at 360-574-8979.
Winter is such a beautiful time of year, and it’s not all cold and snowy. It’s also an amazing time to enjoy the wildlife in our area. Whether you want to make your backyard a winter haven for birds or hibernating insects, there are many ways that you can add plants and food for winter wildlife interest.
Plant Evergreens
One of the best ways to provide natural shelter in the winter garden is by planting an evergreen hedge or tree. These plants will provide cover from predators and allow animals to nest underneath them if they choose. In addition, evergreens will block out wind and provide heat when needed during colder months, as well as shade on warmer days.
Incorporate Plants with Seeds and Berries
Some plants have seeds that stay on the plant through winter, so if you have a garden, consider leaving any remaining plants that have seeds. You can also use perennial plants as a natural way to attract wildlife in your yard. Tall weeds like milkweed and amaranth provide important habitats for monarch butterflies and other pollinators. And bushes like huckleberry, blueberry, and rose hips provide food for birds and mammals during winter months.
Leave Some Areas for Shelter
Don’t bag up all your leaves; spread them on the flower beds; it’s good for your soil and provides shelter for frogs and insects. Leave some pots and piles of bricks lying around for frogs. Make or buy some bug hotels and other insects such as lacewings and ladybugs, or just drill some holes in a log! Build nesting boxes with an entrance hole big enough for an animal to enter and exit easily. In colder climates with snow cover, pile snow near plants to insulate them from cold air. If you have a compost heap, place hay bales on top of it so that animals can find food and cover.
Feed Birds
Attract birds by providing feeders filled with seeds and suet during the colder months. Be sure to keep the feeders clean by regularly sterilizing them. Bird feeders are busy in the winter and can spread disease.
Offer Water in Winter
Birds need water year-round, but in winter, it becomes more important for their survival. Even if the ground is frozen, there are ways to provide water for birds. Placing bird baths near windows or feeding stations will allow the birds to get close enough to drink from the bath.
For help with the design and maintenance of your winter landscape, give us a call at 360-574-8979.
A garden can be a great source of physical activity and mental stimulation. Still, if you have health issues or disabilities, you may need to adjust your garden before digging in the dirt. Read on to learn how to modify your garden, so it’s accessible and enjoyable.
Raised Beds
Raised beds are an excellent way to garden for people who have limited mobility or can’t bend over—these need to be at a comfortable height for seniors and disabled individuals.
Add potting benches to allow people sitting in wheelchairs to reach over the bed without having to climb onto it. The bed height should be 24 inches for someone seated in a wheelchair and 30 inches for someone who will stand while gardening but has difficulty bending and reaching.
Containers
Gardening in containers is adaptable to indoor and outdoor gardening. Containers can be placed on patios or porches or along walkways. You can also move them so they get enough sunlight.
Vertical Gardening
Climbing plants are fantastic in the garden and can add privacy or disguise a view. They can also provide visual interest year-round, depending on the selected plants. Make sure you are growing the right plants for the right height and can reach them at maturity. For example, consider growing up if you cannot bend down to harvest cucumbers.
A trellis can be placed in a raised bed, container, or the ground. Make sure plant stakes are not sharp and not a tripping hazard.
Some Plants suitable for vertical gardening are:
- Cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Peas
- Beans
- Squash
- Clematis
- Jasmine
- Rose
Clear and Even Paths
Ensure all paths and walkways are wide enough for someone in a wheelchair. Avoid any slopes or edges that may cause someone to slip or fall. Use a rake to level the soil, especially near the seating area. Be sure that paths have a slight slope so water can run off and prevent slipperiness. Brush hard surfaces with a stiff broom to remove moss.
Adaptive Gardening Tools
Gardening tools come in a variety of sizes for a variety of abilities and situations. If you have difficulty gripping tools, look for larger handled tools or consider adding or modifying existing tools.
These are some of the adaptive gardening tools you might find helpful:
- Kneeling benches or garden scooters can reach plants lower to the ground.
- Arm cuffs go around your forearm and attach to various tools to help extend reach and increase leverage and grip. The tools available for attachment are trowels, forks, and cultivators.
- Telescopic garden tools have an extendable reach, so you can rake or prune by lengthening the handles, even if you are in a wheelchair.
- Grabbers to pick up debris like a giant pair of tongs.
- Hand seed dispensers are simple and plastic for those who have difficulty gripping small objects.
Let us know how we can help make gardening more accessible for you. We create raised beds, seating areas, pathways, and patios depending on your unique needs. Contact us today!
Landscape lighting can add atmosphere and ambiance to your outdoor living space and make it easier to navigate at night. However, where exactly should you install landscape lights? Here are some tips on how to use landscape lighting to create the perfect outdoor oasis and save energy at the same time.
Consider LED lighting
Landscape lighting is a great way to make your outdoor space feel safe, inviting, and romantic.
There are many different types of lighting fixtures that can be used in landscape lighting projects.
The most commonly used type is LED lighting. They have an incredibly long lifespan compared with other lighting options.
Landscape lighting is used to help accentuate your home’s exterior and make it look more attractive. Placing landscape lighting in front of your house can help highlight what you consider to be your home’s most valuable features, like a beautiful garden or a breathtaking view. It can also be used as an additional security measure if you live in a neighborhood that has lots of foot traffic or break-ins.
Lighting Your Patio
If you’re looking for a way to spruce up your patio, consider adding landscape lighting. This will create the perfect space for entertaining during summer evenings, and it’s also an excellent way of ensuring safety in your garden by keeping intruders away at night.
There are many different types of outdoor lights that you can use, so start by deciding what type of lighting you want: spotlights, wall packs, or lights on poles. You may also want to think about how many light fixtures you need and what color bulbs would work best to create the right ambiance.
Lighting for Driveways, Walkways, and Steps
The driveway and walkways are typically the first areas people see when they pull up to a home. The light from these areas can be used to help you create a feel for what is waiting just inside.
Lighting up your steps is a great way to create an inviting pathway and can even be used as a safety feature. If you have children or pets, it will help them see where they are going at night. When picking out bulbs, choose ones that mimic natural daylight so people don’t feel uncomfortable when they are outside after dark.
Light Up Your Focal Points
If you need more of a focal point for your landscape lighting, consider using lights on trees or shrubs that line your walkways or use accent lights in between the plants in your flowerbeds.
Put up spotlights that focus all their attention on one tree (or any other part of the yard) to create a focal point and a tranquil atmosphere. They provide a focused beam of light on a certain area, but they don’t reach far into the surrounding area.
Floodlights: These lights typically have an oval or circular shape and cast light over a wide range. You may want to use these on a house’s exterior if you want to illuminate it at night, but they can also be used on landscaping features.
There are also lights for your water features that can be beautifully lit at night.
Let the Frontier Landscaping team install your landscape lighting. We’ll help you find the types and styles of lighting that create the atmosphere you want surrounding your home. Installing the right lighting in the right place in your yard can increase its beauty and functionality. Contact us today!
If you’re looking to reduce your water consumption, there’s no better place to start than your own yard. Whether you’re planting annuals or putting in new shrubs and trees, there are plenty of drought-tolerant gardening tips you can follow to create a beautiful garden with less water.
Drought-Tolerant Plants for the Garden
The best plants for low-water gardens are xeric plants (from the Greek word meaning dry) which are hardy and do well in dry climates. These plants have developed over time to be drought tolerant and use less water than traditional garden varieties.
Trees
Deodar Cedar
Norway Spruce
Smoke Tree
Shrubs
Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’
Ceanothus
Mugo Pine
Pacific Wax Myrtle
Perennials
Lavender
Rosemary
Echinacea
Hebe
Sweet Potato Vine
Fountain Grass
Daylilies
Another option is drought-tolerant ground covers like creeping thyme or purple sage. These types of plants will not only make your garden look lovely but will help conserve water as well!
These plants will still need to be watered during dry spells for the first year or two until they become established. Once established, these water-thrifty plants will save you time.
Keep your soil in check with mulch
Compost and mulch are two of the easiest ways to retain moisture in your garden. A layer of mulch can cut down on water consumption by up to 50%. Compost is also an excellent addition to any soil because it will increase the amount of organic matter present in the soil. Organic matter increases the water-holding capacity of soils and improves nutrient availability. These two materials will both help you create a beautiful garden that won’t need much watering!
Plant closer together
Plant trees and shrubs closer together to provide shade and reduce the need for watering. Put large plants in the center of your garden, or place small plants around them to offer them some protection from strong winds.
Use Stones for Visual Interest
Using stones is one way to add interest to your garden. Stones are natural materials that are found in nature and can be used as focal points in your landscaping. They can also be used to create paths throughout the garden as well as act as barriers and even create shade around plants that need to be protected from the sun.
Dry Creek Beds
You may want to consider adding a dry creek bed to your drought-tolerant landscape. A dry creek bed is a type of garden design that mimics the natural environment by including rock or gravel as pathways and raised beds where plants can be planted.
Install a Water Feature
Installing a fountain in your drought-tolerant garden can actually help reduce water consumption. Typically fountains use about 3 gallons of water per hour. A typical backyard fountain can use up to 300 gallons of water per day. If you are using an electric pump then the cost is more as well. An aerating fountain only uses 3-5 gallons of water per hour. This type of fountain recycles the same amount of water over and over again without ever recharging the reservoir tank with new water.
